Computer networks of the type usually referred to as "local area networks" or LANs are well-known in the art, one of the best known LANs being the Ethernet.TM. LAN. Such networks have many uses such as, for example, permitting instant communication among co-workers at respective terminals or nodes of the network. Each terminal or node may be a personal computer or a work station. Another use of an LAN is to emulate a supercomputer by joining many work stations over an LAN. A fundamental problem with such a network is that the node or terminal (a personal computer, work station or the like) must act as a host and perform a number of required tasks, which necessarily consumes the resources of the host, or postpones such tasks while the host completes higher-priority tasks. The required tasks can include performing the network protocol tasks, converting data on the network (typically serial error correction encoded compressed data blocks) into parallel 16-bit words for processing in the host, and vice-versa, decoding data packet headers, and so forth. Because of the demand on the host's limited processing resources, these tasks are necessarily performed at a limited speed, so that the rate at which data can be communicated over the LAN is limited. Moreover, from the point of view of the host's user, participation in the network requires some sacrifice of the host's resources to-network-related tasks.